Not surprised that Lorenzo has been slow to adapt to the Ducati, He was married to the M1 for a long time, Stoner continues to be the only one capable of mastering it right out of the box. I think Lorenzo will do well this year if the tires are good and/or he learns to better manage them as they are. He was Mr. Ride-On-Rails for so long and now he's learning to adapt to a more point and shoot style without destroying the rubber. Riders coming off the 600s I think are at something of an advantage in that respect. Lorenzo is one of the last to come from riding 250 two-strokes. It can't be easy to unlearn the techniques that earned him all those world championships.

But let's face it: Lorenzo was hired to deliver a championship, or at least several race wins. If none of these 2 things will happen this year I seriously doubt he'll be on a Ducati in 2019, regardless of his developing skills, IMHO.

I'm not sure about that. If you were Ducati, who would you replace JL with?

I'm not sure about that. If you were Ducati, who would you replace JL with?

Petrucci still has an open deal until June or so. Or Miller, if he pulls a Zarco.

Speaking of Zarco, what WOULD be interesting for Yamaha is if he starts beating Rossi and Vinales. Which is a real possibility if Movistar Yamaha doesn’t sort out the electronics in time. The only options for them at that point is either offer him a factory seat if Rossi retires or offer Tech3 one factory bike like Honda and Ducati are doing (Which they should have done already, I strongly feel that the reason Honda and Ducati have improved so much is the extra amount of data and feedback they are getting from a third rider on a factory bike).

Petrucci still has an open deal until June or so. Or Miller, if he pulls a Zarco.

Speaking of Zarco, what WOULD be interesting for Yamaha is if he starts beating Rossi and Vinales. Which is a real possibility if Movistar Yamaha doesn’t sort out the electronics in time. The only options for them at that point is either offer him a factory seat if Rossi retires or offer Tech3 one factory bike like Honda and Ducati are doing (Which they should have done already, I strongly feel that the reason Honda and Ducati have improved so much is the extra amount of data and feedback they are getting from a third rider on a factory bike).

If I were Lin Jarvis, I would move heaven and earth to keep Zarco on.

Petrucci still got outscored pretty comfortably by JLo in the last half of the season, although he had four really strong races last year and was much stronger at the start of the season.

Zarco seems to suit the current Yamaha really well, whereas VR/MV's more aggressive styles appear not to gel perfectly with the Yamaha. I suspect VR's stature will mean that Yamaha will be working extraordinarily hard to sort the bike by Qatar.

I agree that Jarvis should offer Zarco a factory bike within the satellite Yamaha framework. It's crazy to lose such a strong performer, but also a performer who can offer so much in terms of development.

It’s kinda pathetic how you need to chip in with a Rossi line as some sort of “Gotcha”.
If Rossi gets beaten by Vinales... he gets beaten by Vinales. They are teammates, not aiming for the same seat like Miller and J. Lo potentially.

Try to not take things so personally. These are people paid to race. Not your family.

As for Lorenzo, switching between last years and this years bikes and slumping in the back is not “not aiming for a fast time”, it’s the stars not aligning in that perfect order for Sir Jorge of Lorenzoland to be fast in that narrow window he is capable of performing in.

Says the guy who has repeatedly taken potshots at Lorenzo, which is OK, it is a fan forum and you are not required to like Lorenzo just as others have no obligation to like Rossi.

A complexion I could put on this test btw is that the fastest Ducati was the end of season GP17 which Lorenzo likely had a role in fettling and the fastest Yamaha is one that the rider has said has to be ridden as Jorge would ride it, while the new factory bike presumably developed under the direction of the great one is floundering for a second year.

Talk of Miller is quite premature, he hasn’t even raced and his team-mate has the priority at the moment including the current bike. I think Petrucci is good, if not quite good enough to give Ducati a factory seat or I walk ultimatum, but he is still in the running for any putative Ducati factory seat as you say in a later post

Miller has been really impressive so far on the Duke. I'm very curious to see how he goes. He was awesome in Moto3, and finally started showing his ability near the end of his tenure on the Honda last year.

Miller has been really impressive so far on the Duke. I'm very curious to see how he goes. He was awesome in Moto3, and finally started showing his ability near the end of his tenure on the Honda last year.

Sure, I followed him avidly in moto3, and nothing in the season to come would please me more than to see him prosper with Ducati. Times in pre-season testing aren’t everything though as you know, otherwise Lorenzo would have won the 2016 title and Vinales the 2017 title.

According to the “unbiased” lot on krops forum, Lorenzo is getting replaced, Maverick is totally lost.
Rossi however is absolutely fine, doesn’t need to attempt a fast time as he only needs race simulations because the bike suits him.
He’s not slow, he’s foxing to lull the others into false security, before he comes out flying and blows everyone away as he takes his deserved holy grail title